The Project’s mineralization is a low to intermediate sulfidation epithermal system with silver, lead, and zinc deposits hosted in stock works, breccia veins, and fractures. The gold zone to the south is a low sulfidation epithermal gold occurrence in association with silica. The antimony zone is comprised of stibnite-pyrite veins with silica. There is also sulfide mineralization in the sediments that are essentially barren of silver and lead.

The above combinations are indicative of the epithermal mineralization that is sometimes associated with distal zoning around a porphyritic intrusion.

Mineralization at the Corani Project occurs in three distinct and separate zones: Corani Main, Corani Minas, and Corani Este, each differing slightly in character with regard to both alteration and mineral assemblages. In general, mineralization in outcrop throughout the Corani Project is associated with iron and manganese oxides, barite, and silica. Silicification is both pervasive and structurally controlled along veins. In drill core, the mineralization occurs in typical low to intermediate sulfidation Ag-Pb-Zn mineral assemblages.

The most abundant silver-bearing mineral is fine-grained argentian tetrahedrite or freibergite (Hazen Research Inc., 2006; Gunning, 2007). Other minor silver minerals present include acanthite and the lead-silver sulfosalts, adorite and diaphorite. Other sulfide minerals include pyrite-marcasite, boulangerite, sphalerite, an ........

The Corani Project will be mined using conventional open pit mining methods, with either an owner mining or a contractor mining scenario. The base case assumes contractor mining. The rock will be broken by drilling 0.156 m diameter blast holes and blasting with ammonium nitrate/fuel oil (ANFO) and emulsion. Broken rock will then be loaded into 140 tonne trucks using a 19 cubic meter (m3) front end loader or one of two 22 m3 hydraulic shovels. Support equipment includes two Caterpillar D9 bulldozers, a road grader, water trucks, rubber tire dozer, compactor, excavator, fuel and lube trucks, and other miscellaneous equipment.

The mine plan considers extraction of the proven and probable ore material included in the mineral reserve presented in Section 15. The mine plan has been developed to deliver 9,855 kt of ore per year (27,000 t/d x 365 processing days) to the crusher for processing by flotation to produce two concentrates: lead-silver, and zinc-silver.

Drilling
Drilling will be carried out using drill rigs equipped with down-the-hole hammers. Based on the rock hardness documented in the report “Corani Blast Fragmentation Project, Topex” (2015), the rock is of low to medium hardness with an unconfined compressive strength ranging between 27.5 MPa and 36.9 MPa. The drill pattern selected allows for a powder factor of 0.26 kg/t, consistent with the requirement documented by Topex.

Drilling will be conducted using two Atlas Copco DM45 dril ........

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